Thursday, August 30, 2012

I was always fascinated by the dish -- Patrani Fish, famous Parsi dish. Many of
my friends swear by it. The idea of trying a vegetarian version had been
playing on my mind for quite sometime but could not bring myself to do it
.

Yesterday, I saw banana leaves at my vegetable vendor and the rest as
they say just unfolded. With great anticipation I tried Patrani Paneer. To my
surprise it turned out to be delicious.

Serves 3

Ingredients
:

Paneer.

200 gms.

Water.

2 cups

Vinegar.

2 tbsp.

Banana
leaf.

1 no.

To be ground to paste :

Coriander
chopped.

5 heaped tbsps.

Fresh
coconut grated.

3 heaped tbsp.

Mint
leaves.

8 - 10 .

Curry
leaves.

10 .

Green
chillies.

2

Cumin
seeds.

1/2 tsp

Garlic.

6 cloves

Sugar.

1tsp

Lemon
juice.

1tbsp

Salt.

to taste

Turmeric
pd.

a pinch.

Water.

As required.

Method :

Grind all ingredients ( mentioned under paste )
into a fine and thick paste using minimal water.

Yummy Parathas - My all time favoriteI would like to share another 'school lunch box recipe' which my son and his friends just love.Paratha in any form is everyone's favourite. Paratha for breakfast, paratha for lunch and again paratha for dinner. You can pack this in the school lunch box with pickle or ketchup, as your child prefers. Hot onion paratha with butter for breakfast is divine.

Makes two Parathas

Ingredients:

Onion.

1/2 cup , very finely chopped

Green chilly.

4-5 pieces, very finely chopped

Coriander
leaves.

a few, very finely chopped

Red chilly pd.

half of 1/4 tsp

Garam masala pd.

half of 1/4 tsp

Dry
Mango pd.

half of 1/4tsp.

Salt.

To taste

You will also need :Roti dough.*. 2 small balls - *refer to my wheat flour dough recipe below. It can be used for making plain chapatties and all kind of stuffed parathas.Dry flour for rolling parathas.Oil for cooking parathas.Method:

Place the girdle(tawa), preferably non stick on flame to heat.

Mix all ingredients except salt and dry flour.

Take one ball and roll it in dry flour and press it a little to flatten it.

Roll it out into a small disk with a rolling pin.

Sprinkle a pinch of dry flour on the disk.

Now keep half of onion mixture on the centre of the disk.

Again sprinkle a pinch of dry flour.

Now sprinkle salt to taste and mix lightly.

Pull up all sides of the disk carefully and seal it like you would seal a momo. Pinch of excess dough and roll it lightly in your palms.

Roll this stuffed ball in dry flour, press it lightly and roll it into a six inch diameter disk, very carefully as onion releases juices when mixed with salt.

It is a little tricky to roll it out as it sticks to rolling pin, so flour your rolling pin also and keep sprinkling flour on the paratha also.

Try using as little dry flour as possible.

Now gently lift it and put on a hot and greased girdle.

Cook on one side till dotted with golden spots.

Turn it and apply a little oil on the cooked side. Repeat on the other side.

Now cook your paratha till it is nice and golden.

Repeat the process to make another paratha.

Cook parathas on medium to low heat.

* Wheat Flour Dough for Parathas.This is basic wheat flour dough recipe which can be used to make plain chapatti es as well as all kind of stuffed parathas. This recipe will give 4 - 5 chapatti es or parathas.

Makes 4-5

Ingredients :

Wheat flour.

1cup / 145 gms.

Oats.

1 heaped tbsp. / 11gms.

Water

150 ml.

Salt.

A big pinch.

Method :

Mix all the dry ingredients . Now slowly add water to make a soft dough.

Quantity of water may vary depending on quality of flour.

Knead the dough well to make it pliable.

I like to knead the dough with hand.

You can use a food processor if you like but adjust the quantity of water.

Cover and keep it for at least half an hour.

Use it as required.

Left over dough can be stored in the fridge for at least 24 to 48 hours.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Fenugreek leaves are my all time favourite. I love them in any which form they are cooked. Luckily we get fenugreek leaves almost all the year round in Bangalore. An easy but delicious preparation is Methi Aloo, which goes very well with roti or paratha. You can also roll it in roti/ paratha for kids lunch boxes. Left overmethialoocan be used to make stuffedparathas,Ingredients :

Fenugreek.
Leaves.

150gms(after cleaned), 4small bunches.

Potatoes.

250gms, 3 med. sized.

Oil.

1 1/2tbsp.

Cummin
seeds.

1/2 tsp

Asafoetida

a pinch.

Green
chilly.

4-5 pieces ( finely chopped)

Red
chilly pd.

3/4 tsp

Turmeric pd.

1/2tsp

Coriander
pd.

2 1/2tsp.

Ginger
paste.

1/2tsp

Dry
Mango pd.

1/4tsp

Garam masala pd.

a big pinch.

Sugar.

1/2tsp.

Salt.

to taste.

Method - Sabzi:

Pick leaves from stems of fenugreek. Use only tips or very tender parts of stem, discard rest of the stems. Wash leaves and tender stems in running water till all the mud is removed. Now chop it finely.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Kulfi is a dessert that was bought always from shops. Never
realised it can be made at home.Yesterday, for the first time i tried it home
and it turned out to be a super hit. Everyone at home , including my mom loved
it. Here I am sharing the recipe with you. My kulfi is medium sweet. If u want
it sweeter add an extra tbsp of sugar. The recipe gives four pots of the size as shown in picture

Ingredients :

Milk full cream. 1/2
lit.

Sugar. 3
tbsp

Cream. 100
ml

Pistachio flakes.
2tsp

Almond. flakes.
2tsp

Cardamom pd. 2 large
pinches

Saffron. a
few strands

Method:

Boil milk in a heavy bottomed
pan.

Take out 2tbsp milk and soak
saffron strands in it.

Simmer rest of the milk on slow
heat till reduced to half.

Remember to stir constantly so
that milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Every time layer of cream (malai)
forms on milk, remove it and keep it in a separate bowl.

Once the milk reduces to half,
remove from fire.

Add saffron milk and sugar . Stir
till sugar dissolves.

Let it cool to room
temperature.

Now add cream and mix well. I
used Amul. *

Break the malai that we had kept
separately, into small bits and add it to the above mixture.

Now mix cardamom pd., almond and
pistachio flakes .

Keep it in the freezer to set.
Mine took 7-8 hours to set.

You can freeze it in kulfi moulds
or earthen pots like I did. Cover the pots with aluminium foil.

To unmould dip the bottom of the
mould in hot water for a second or two. Now run a sharp knife around the edges
of kulfi and over turn the mould on a plate. It will pop out.

Cut and serve.

* I used only the thick part of
Amul cream. To do that ,pour the entire contents of tetra pack(200ml) into a
bowl and use the thick part for this recipe. Remaining cream you can store in
the fridge in an air tight container and use it later .

Serve with ketchup .

Monday, August 20, 2012

Tired of having paneer recipes full of tomatoes, cashew paste,cream etc. I decided to make something that would be light on stomach but yummy. Suddenly I remembered having capsicum with paneer at a frinends place. Voila , , I decided to give it a shot. Lucky me, I found a few capsicum languishing in the fridge. So here is my :

This one is hotMy husband is very fond of Rajasthani
garlic chutney. I made it for him using several variations but he was not
happy. This April I happened to meet an aunt of mine , who is from Rajasthan,
after several years. I asked her for the recipe. It turned out brilliant. I'm sharing her recipe with you
all.

Nobody in my family is really fond of traditional idly, unless it is served with sambhar.

I find it little tedious making sambhar and chutney both for breakfast . Secondly sambhar itself is neither on my husdand's nor my wishlist as it causes acidity so I rarely make it . And when I do , it's mainly for lunch to be served with rice and Purp Usli ( I'll post these recipes later). So, Rawa Idly, a healthy and easy breakfast option. Use coarse rawa. Down south we get something called upma rawa, I have used that. You can use any coarse rawa.

Ingredients : (Serves 5. Gives 24 medium sized idlies.)

Rawa.

1cup , 170 gms

Oats

1/3 cup , 30gms.

Curd.

1/2 cup, 125 ml

Water.

1cup, 240ml

Roasted
peanuts.

1/2cup,

Salt.

1tsp or to taste

Red
chilly pd.

1/2tsp

Carrot.

1no. Small grated

Eno
salt.

1tsp heaped or 1 sachet

Coriander

1 tbsp chopped.

.

Tempering :

Oil..

2tsp plus oil for greasing the
moulds.

Mustard
seeds.

1/2 tsp.

Whole
red chillies.

2 no. Broken inti pieces

Curry
leaves.

10 no. Chopped

Chana,
urad dal mixed.

2tbsp.

Method:

Mix all dry ingredients except Eno salt.

Add carrot, curd and 3/4cup water and mix well. Cover and let it rest for 30 min.

Heat oil in a pan , crackle mustard seeds, add rest of the ingredients meant for tempering, stir for half a min. and pour it into the batter.

Check consistency of batter and add remaining water . It should be thicker than cake batter.

Adjust the amount of water .(you can add more water if needed).

Grease idly molds and keep water to boil in cooker.

Now add Eno salt to the batter and mix well. Pour into moulds and place it in the cooker and steam on slow , without weight for 30 min.

Remove idli stand from cooker and let it cool for 5 min.

Serve it with sweet chilly sauce and mint chutney, or ketchup or coconut chutney, as per your taste.

Note : If you don't have idly stand, no worries. Grease a baking tin which will fit in your cooker and steam the batter in that, like you would steam dhokla. Fill the tin only half. Once done cut into squares and serve.